Method of manufacturing printing plates having a replica pattern

ABSTRACT

Disclosure is made of an embodiment of the present invention which comprises using a prototype in the form of a natural or carved object, overlaying a thin deformable material of paper or synthetic resin on the surface of said prototype to fix its surface pattern on said thin deformable material for use as a prototype plate, spraying onto this prototype plate a coloring matter from a direction of an acute angle to form an emphasized rugged-surface pattern, and photographing this prototype plate on a photographic printing plate, which is printed on a gelatinous film for being attached to an etch-workable metal so that it can be etched with an etching solution thereby obtaining a printing plate with a replica pattern and also decorative plates with said replica pattern.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Fumio Hirai 1 31-3, Minamihiraki,Osaka, Japan [21] Appl. No. 706,974 [22] Filed Feb. 20, 1968 [45]Patented Dec. 21, I971 [32] Priority Feb. 21, 1967 [33] Japan [31] 42/ l1058 [54] METHOD OF MANUFACTURING PRINTING PLATES HAVING A REPLICAPATTERN 6 Claims, 12 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl It'll/401.1, 101/401 .2, 96/363 [51] Int. Cl B4lc, B4ln[50] Field of Search 10l/401.1, 401.2, 150, 170, 34; 96/363, 27, 36.4;156/58, 59

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,265,254 5/1918 Saalburg101/34 Primary Examiner-David Klein AnorneyWenderoth, Lind & PonackABSTRACT: Disclosure is made of an embodiment of the present inventionwhich comprises using a prototype in the form of a natural or carvedobject, overlaying a thin deformable material of paper or syntheticresin on the surface of said prototype to fix its surface pattern onsaid thin deformable material for use as a prototype plate, sprayingonto this prototype plate a coloring matter from a direction of an acuteangle to form an emphasized rugged-surface pattern, and photographingthis prototype plate on a photographic printing plate, which is printedon a gelatinous film for being attached to an etch-workable metal sothat it can be etched with an etching solution thereby obtaining aprinting plate with a replica pattern and also decorative plates withsaid replica pattern.

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METHOD OF MANUFACTURING PRINTING PLATES HAVING A REPLICA PATTERN Thisinvention relates to a printing plate for use in impressing a replicapattern on the surface of a thin plate made of paper, cloth or syntheticresin, particularly to a method of manufacturing such printing platesand also decorative plates on which a replica pattern is made clear.

Of the accompanying drawings, FIG. 1a is a perspective view in part of aprototype of wood plate showing its grain on the surface. FIG. Ib is aperspective view in part of a prototype plate made of a deformablematerial and copied from said prototype, on which the pattern of FIG. 1ais fixed. FIG. 2 is a perspective view in part of a sheet of paper orthin plate on which the pattern of the prototype of FIG. la is alreadyfixed. FIG. 3 is a side view of a shade concentrating procedure to spraya coloring matter onto said prototype plate from a direction of an acuteangle said prototype plate consisting of a thin plate on which a ruggedsurface pattern is already copied from said prototype. FIG. 4 is aperspective view of the shadeconcentrated prototype plate. FIG. 5 is aperspective view in part of a photographic printing plate as aphotographic sensitive plate on which a pattern of shade isphotographed, FIG. 6 is a perspective view in part of a gelatinous filmon which a pattern of shade is printed. FIG. 7 a is aside view in partof a condition wherein a gelatinous film is pasted to the externalcircumference of a roll. FIG. 7b is a side view, broken in part, of acondition wherein a gelatinous film is pasted to a flat base plate. FIG.8a is a perspective view in part of a printing roll provided with areplica pattern. FIG. 8 b is a perspective view in part of a printingplate provided with a replica pattern. FIG. 9 is a perspective view of adecorative plate having a replica pattern copied from the printing plateshown in FIGS. 80 and 8 b.

In order to develop a replica pattern on the surface of a flat plateheretofore, it has been customary to make a photographic printing platedirectly from a prototype by photographic means, on which a desiredpattern has been carved or molded. According to this usual procedure, itis almost impossible to make a clear-cut rugged surface shade and toobtain a satisfactory printing plate'with a replica pattern sufficientlyresembling the prototype with the only result that a poor replica andflat-looking pattern may be obtained at best.

In contrast, according to the present invention, it is possible toovercome such drawback as mentioned above and to make clear even theslightest extent of rugged surface pattern of any prototype by extremelysimple means. Namely, the object of the present invention consists ineasily and economically obtaining decorative plates by making aparticularly emphasized replica pattern on any flat-surface platesuitable for manufacturing such decorative plates having a sufficient,replica pattern and thus ensuring a method for manufacturing suchprinting plate as has been described hereinbefore.

The method of the present invention is thus characterized by the factthat a prototype in the form of a natural object or a copy thereofhaving a desired pattern of uneven surface is overlaid on a thindeformable material made of, for example, paper, cloth or syntheticresin for transferring the replica pattern of the prototype onto saiddeformable material to form it into a prototype plate and then acoloring matter is sprayed onto its surface from a direction of an acuteangle greater than but less than 90 to make a dark-shade portion on theside directly confronting said spraying direction and to make the otherside a light-shade portion, thereby embossing the uneven surface patternof the prototype plate for better emphasis of said replica pattern andthen the prototype plate thus treated is photographed on a sensitiveplate to produce a photographic printing plate, thereby permitting thesimple and economical mass production of decorative plates made ofpaper, cloth or synthetic resin, having a clear shaded pattern developedby said printing means.

The invention will be explained in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

A plate of wood with its outstanding grain (e.g. in weatherbeatencondition until its annual rings are clearly exposed) is used as aprototype 1 with a solid pattern 2 on which is overlaid a thin plate 3made of paper or a shapeable, namely, deformable material in such amanner that the replica pattern 2 of grain of wood can be transferred tothe thin plate 3 by sliding after pressing thereon, like relief copying,to form a prototype plate 3' provided with a rugged surface pattern 2'.Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the required coloring matter is sprayed ontothe surface of the prototype plate 3' by means of a sprayer 4 from adirection of an acute angle so that there if formed a prototype plate 3"of shade type, having a darkshade portion 5 and a light-shade portion 6corresponding to the dark and light shades of the rugged surface pattern2, and the dark shade portion 5 and light shade portion 6 on theprototype plate 3" are photographed on a sensitive plate by usualphotographic means, the image of which is then developed and fixedsuitably, thereby producing a photographic printing plate 7, chemicallystabilized and showing a light shade image 5' and a dark shade image 6'.Subsequently, the photographic printing plate 7 is closely secured to agelatinous film 8 cemented with a base sheet of paper 9 for ultravioletray printing purposes so that it is rendered possible to harden onlythose areas having been exposed to ultraviolet ray on reaction withpotassium bichromate mixed in the gelatinous film 8. Namely, because ofultraviolet ray printing of network type on the gelatinous film 8beforehand, those portions thereof corresponding to light and dark shadegradation of the photographic printing plate 7 are sure to becomehardened by order of said network units, thus forming hardened portions5" and 6" thereon respectively. While the film 8 cannot be discerned bythe sense of sight, the hardened portions 5" and 6" shown in FIG. 6 areintentionally emphasized in expression for better clarification.

As the next procedure shown in FIGS. 7a and 7b the gelatinous film 8with said printed pattern is closely pasted to an etch-workable metal 10like copper plating or a metal with the same etch-workable effect ascopper and then the base sheet of paper 9 is stripped off the gelatinousfilm 8 by water application. Then an etching solution composed of ferricchloride (FeCl is repeatedly applied to the gelatinous film 8 on thesurface of the etch-workable metal 10 whereby the gelatinous film 8 canbe dissolved little by little starting from such area as has not beensufficiently hardened during exposure to ultraviolet ray, until theetching solution reaches the surface of the etch-workable metal 10 fromwhich part the etching action starts to work thereby developing a lightand dark shade expression depending on the difference of etching timeand providing a printing roll 12 or a flat printing plate 14 formed witha replica pattern 10'. As has been described hereinbefore, in case thepattern of the prototype is not of a sufficiently uneven surface, asheet of paper or thin deformable material 3 is overlaid directly on theoriginal prototype l to form a pattern of uneven surface like reliefcopying or the replica pattern 2 of the prototype may be formed ongypsum or any similar deformable material for use as a copied prototypeI' on which a sheet of paper or thin deformable material 3 may beoverlaid to produce the prototype plate 3' formed with said pattern ofuneven surface as by the above mentioned method of relief copying in asimple and exact manner capable of copying a pattern of uneven Surfacefrom a prototype.

Moreover, it is also possible to produce the prototype plate 3 bypush-pressing a sheet of paper or thin deformable material of syntheticresin by insertion between a male mold and a female mold in which therequired pattern is carved or molded by some suitable means or other. Inthis case, especially when the pattern is of a geometrically solidcarving type, the preparation of a male and a female mold for such apurpose will be easy and all the more convenient for use.

Consequently, as explained before, it is possible to manufacture aprinting plate with an emphasized shade pattern from the prototype plate3' in an extremely simple manner by forming on paper or a plastic platea replica pattern resembling a natural object or a model copied from itby suitable means.

According to the method of the present invention for manufacturingprinting plates, even in case the uneven surface of any prototype isinsufficient in appearance, a coloring matter can be used for betteremphasis of a light and dark shade proportion for obtaining aphotographic printing plate by the usual photographic means in a manneremphatically resembling the light and dark shade proportion of saiduneven surface pattern, and therefore this photographic printing platecan be installed on an ordinary printing machine, for example, aroller-type or flat-plate printing machine so as to permit themanufacture of a decorative plate with an emphasized replica pattern,made of paper, cloth or synthetic resin as shown in FIG. 9.

The decorative plate 15 thus obtained is sure not only to show adistinctive light and dark shade in its lightfaced or shade position butalso to give an embossed replica with an emphasized shade tone due tothe fact that the effect of the required coloring matter in theintermediate portions is likely to change little by little. What ismore, even in case the prototype is found to be a poor replica at first,its shade can be emphasized by the use of such coloring matter asmentioned above during the manufacturing procedures of printing platesso that it is rendered possible to intensify such shade'and therebyimprove the replica.

Thus, decorative plates of the type described can be applied to housewalls, ceilings, surfaces of other structures, furniture, instruments,etc., in a manner with the intended characteristics of the presentinvention for manufacturing such decorative plates easily andeconomically.

Although the presently preferred embodiment of the present invention hasbeen explained, with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is notintended that the present invention be restricted to said embodiment andvarious modifications or improvements are also available withoutdeparting from the scope of application for patent as shown in theappended claims.

What is claimed is l. A method of manufacturing printing plates with areplica pattern comprising forming a prototype plate in the form of athin plate with a rugged-surface pattern from a prototype, forming alightand dark-shade tone on said prototype plate by spraying a coloringmatter onto said prototype plate from a direction of an acute angle,photographing said prototype thus formed with said lightand dark-shadetone to make a photographic printing plate, printing the light and darkshade of said photographic printing plate on a gelatinous film byexposure to ultraviolet ray, pasting said gelatinous film to anetchworkable metal and bringing an etching solution into contact withsaid gelatinous film thereby forming said pattern of prototype on thesurface of said etch-workable metal by etching'means.

2. A method according to claim I, said thin plate being made of paper.

3. A method according to claim 1, said thin plate being made ofsynthetic resin.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein a rugged surface pattern iscopied from a natural object onto a deformable material for use as aprototype.

5. A method according to claim 1 wherein a natural object is used as aprototype.

6. A method according to claim 1 wherein said prototype plate isobtained by molding between a male mold and a female mold.

2. A method according to claim 1, said thin plate being made of paper.3. A method according to claim 1, said thin plate being made ofsynthetic resin.
 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein a ruggedsurface pattern is copied from a natural object onto a deformablematerial for use as a prototype.
 5. A method according to claim 1wherein a natural object is used as a prototype.
 6. A method accordingto claim 1 wherein said prototype plate is obtained by molding between amale mold and a female mold.